I Survived
by Your Isis
Summary: As Joel rushes to save Ellie, he bumps into someone he never thought he'd see again. Rated M for future chapters...and language. Joel/Tess
1. Prologue

**Thought I'd try something a little longer. I have trouble coming to terms with Tess's death. Okay, I have a ****_lot_**** of trouble coming to terms with her death. So, I wanted to try my hand at a way that ****_maybe_**** she could have lived. It's a stretch, I know, but you do what ya gotta do.**

**I do not own these characters! I swear! If I did naughty things would be happening...all the time!**

Prologue

_"Ellie…wait here." Joel instructs her after clearing out the last of the soldiers patrolling the Capital Building. It's safe, no one's going to come abduct her. He knows this._

_"All right." She makes no move to stop him, just leans up against the door and sharpens her hunting knife._

_Something in him knows that going back is a bad idea but there's no stopping it. It only takes him minutes to make it back to the same perch where he saw her lifeless body what seems to be an eternity ago. Her thin frame is still lying there, though the blood around her has set darker and deeper into the floor. Wide hazel irises stare at him, sad and lost. It's horrifying._

_Hadn't they been shut when he and Ellie ran by her body the first time?_

_A coughing sound comes from her body, startling him. Adrenaline pulsates through every fiber in her body. She's alive?_

_"J-Joel…" Her voice is so weak and small that he can barely hear it, but he does. Without a second thought he rushes down the stairs and to her side to pull her up against him. How could this even be happening? He keeps questioning it, it seems so wrong, but…how can he deny her?_

_The woman is covered nearly head to toe in blood having lost so much of it. Christ, the pain she must be going through…it kills him when she whimpers against him._

_"Shh, shh, Tess…it's a'right now. I've gotcha."_

_Her eyes turn to his then, but they're not the ones he remembers. No. These are red, bloodshot, glassy things. Not Tess's. _

_"Why…" She coughs again. More blood spills. Joel's heart hammers something fierce when she grabs his shirt with a strength she never had. "Why did you come back? I told you to run."_

_Then he sees it, the red raw bite on her neck spreading over her skin at record speed. Fungus bursts through her once smooth skin, bleeding and oozing all over, but even so he can't make himself drop her. She gives him one last pained, human look before the infection turns her face into a lumpy, distorted mass. Rotten fingers still grasp his shirt with inhumanly strong grip._

_There's no time to react – she bites him._

"Holy _shit_!" Joel wakes to Ellie shaking him. Sweat's covered his body, and she looks pretty damn worried. "Joel! You were screaming like you were being murdered."

A moment ticks by before he can calm his racing heart enough to answer. "It's ok, baby girl, I'm fine." When she gives him that 'pfft, right,' look he adds, "Just some bad dreams. S'all."

Ellie gives a little sigh. There's no use shaking him down for any more information. Instead she murmurs something sympathetic and busies herself with getting him some breakfast.

Joel's not alone in having trouble sleeping. It seems that the closer and closer they get to the fireflies, the more nightmares they've both been having. Thank god that they have each other. Waking up to another person who wants to hear about your hellish night's rest is definitely a blessing.

Having anyone to wake up to, period, is a blessing.

Joel is unconsciously fingering the collar of his shirt when Ellie returns with two cans of SPAM. The stuff's horrible, but they're close to their destination. Hopefully the Fireflies will have something better to offer them besides dried fruit and canned garbage.

Breakfast goes down in a hurry and before they know it, they're on their feet again. With any luck, the Fireflies will be well on their way to discovering their cure by sundown.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The sound of beeping machinery startles Joel awake. Last thing he remembered, Ellie near drowned, he was frantically performing CPR and…and then there's black space in his memory. His eyes fall onto the figure next to him: Marlene. That's a shock.

"Welcome to the Fireflies." She says with a tired smile that he already doesn't like.

She apologizes for his rough treatment upon being found. That they were able to revive Ellie after all, and that she was undergoing tests. It all sounded very well and good, but something underneath made him anxious.

"Take me to her." In an instant he's swung his legs over the hospital they had placed him in. There's an urgency, a red-flag going off in his mind. _Ellie. I need to see her. Now._

"You don't have to worry about her anymore." Ice. Marlene's words are frigid. Her tone makes him feel sick. "Well take care of her."

"I worry. Just let me see her. Please."

"You can't. She's being prepped for surgery." She says it so coldly. Sure, there's a twinge of sadness in the way her lip pouts just a little, but there's a disturbingly detached hardness. Her eyes brighten though, as she goes on to tell Joel about how the doctors have found that the cordyceps inside her mutated. If they can retrieve the mutation from her body, they'll be able to reverse engineer a vaccine.

"A vaccine." She repeats the thought like a prayer. Salvation. Relief.

Funny how Joel doesn't share that same euphoria. He can already tell where this is going, but he vocalizes it all the same. "But it grows all over the brain."

Marlene's eyes are knowing. "It does."

If they had been alone, Joel would have been launching himself at her. "Find someone else," he grinds out. It's a warning, they both know it.

"There is no one else."

Yeah. They both are aware of that fact, but it doesn't matter. The protective father in him that he just started feeling over the last few months comes roaring out. "Listen, you are gonna show me where-"

The guard accompanying Marlene is on him in less than a second, kicking him to the floor.

"I get it." He rubs his head where he was hit while Marlene circles him like a lioness protecting her turf. "But whatever it is you think you're going through right now is nothing to what I have been through. I knew her since she was born. I promised her mother I would look after her."

"Then why are you letting this happen?"

"Because this isn't about me. Or even her. There is no other choice here." It's her last warning to him.

They're unbelievable words to him. When you care for someone, for something, you can't just let it be taken away. Not with the deteriorating world around them. The past year has been especially good at grinding that into him. "Yeah…you keep telling yourself that bullshit."

Tension flares between them so hot that _someone _is destined to get burned. Looks like Marlene is doing the burning today. "March him outta here. He tries anything, shoot him." Her gaze rests heavy on him for a moment. "Don't waste this gift, Joel." She exits the room in a whoosh of anger and power, leaving Joel at the mercy of guard.

It takes a hell of a lot of effort for him to get to his feet, even with a gun aimed point blank for his skull. A plan's formulated in his head before he's even ushered from the room, but even so, time seems to tick through molasses. There's no way in hell he's leaving this building.

He catches a glimpse of his backpack on the counter of the reception desk and decides that it's now or never. In one swift move he's disarmed the guard and gives him one last chance to offer up where Ellie's being operated on. Patience and time are short though. Joel fires two rounds into him before he can even utter the location. There's a third shot to his skull when he uses his last breath to gasp out the operating room's location on the top floor.

He's barely got his backpack around his shoulders when he hears others hurrying over. Without a sound he slips into the darkness of the worn building. No one will see him until that door leading to the stairwell makes a whole lot of noise, and even then they can't catch him. Ramming a chair in between the door handles to lock it makes sure of this.

Then Joel tears up the stairs like a man possessed.

His brain is so focused on saving Ellie that he damn near shoots the woman who greets him at the top of the stairs. For months he'll torture himself that after _everything, _he would have lost her a second time if her reflexes weren't still so damn amazing.

Tess tucks her ruffled hair behind her ears as if it's no big deal. "Gotta work on that aim, huh, Tex?"

Joel can't breathe. Maybe Marlene had him drugged or something while he was out. There's no possible way the woman in front of him was real. He saw her there in Boston, saw the blood around her, and even if she survived, he saw that _bite_.

"N-no…" he takes a step backwards, nearly tripping down the stairs.

"Watch it!" Tess grabs his arm, steadying him in time. "Just give me five seconds to explain." She grabs him by the arm, yanking him out of the stairwell and into top floor entrance.

"H-how-" he starts but she hushes him.

"Apparently Marlene had dispatched a few other Fireflies to the Capital Building just in case. Turns out they found me there, still bleeding out, and apparently alive. If you can call it that…"

"You were bit, Tess…I saw that thing." He rips the collar of her shirt over, exposing what was now nothing more than an angry, but tame, burn-like scar covering her right shoulder.

Tess shudders as he strokes his thumb over the rough tissue. "Yeah…I was. They decided that I would be the perfect candidate to experiment with a few treatment methods that they were in the middle of messing with."

"Wait, you're telling me that they already _have_ treatments they can use?"

She sighs, making a face. "If you can fucking call it that. It took them months to get me to the point where I could actually think clearly again. The whole process they used on me is too expensive and requires too much constant attention. Not to mention I don't really think that it was humane: They bled me, pulled things out of me, put things in me…I really don't want to get into it right now, but it was hell…pure hell. Lucky for them, a lot of the studies they did on me are going to come in handy when they take samples from Ellie."

Joel's face darkens. "You do know how they're getting the samples, right?"

Tess is already ahead of him, pulling a gun out of the waistband of her pants. "Oh yeah. And as much as I am thankful for the second lease on life, taking a kid's life away for the 'greater good' doesn't sit well with me." Her eyes are fierce as she reloads the firearm.

Words can't describe how he missed that look. He reaches out to touch her cheek with the gentlest manner he can muster (Tess's breath actually hitches when he does so) – maybe she'll just burst into pieces because this just can't be real. Her hair is still soft, a little longer, but the same deep brown that would fan around her head when they'd spend nights together. The familiar texture damn near breaks him.

If this is a dream, it's the best one he'll probably ever have.

It's so like Tess to laugh at him at this very moment. "Okay Romeo, we can continue this later." She leans against his touch for a second more, not having the guts to say how badly she's missed him, how badly she just wants to kiss him.

It can wait, she decides.

She readies herself, mentally planning their route to the operating room. She's been there once before, it won't be easy, they can take it. When she hears the click of Joel reloading his shotgun, her old familiar game face comes on.

"Ready, Tex?"

"More than you know."


	3. Chapter 2

Hey guys! So I'm aiming to do a steady uploading of every other day due to a million other things that are going on in my life and I really just refuse to rush this story. I hope you enjoy!

Tess actually winces when Joel shoots the doctor. A small part of her is thankful to them because of how they helped her live and it makes it hard. These are people she guarded for months after her recovery. Waiting. Watching. Paying them back for saving her life.

But she's had years and years of practice ignoring her feelings and her game face is back on once Joel has Ellie cradled in his arms. She knows the layout of the building by heart at this point and exactly where they can catch the nearest elevator.

"C'mon Joel!" She urges. "Follow me! Now!"

They race through the hall, turning left and right at the best places to avoid conflict. Both breathe a ragged sigh of relief when the doors slide safely shut.

"Holy shit," Tess exhales. Her eyes turn up to meet Joel's. "You hangin' in there, big guy?"

"Yeah." He nods as he shifts Ellie's body so he's holding her more securely. _But that was too easy,_ his mind warns him.

An unwelcome sight greets them when the doors open in the parking garage.

"You can't save her." Marlene levels a gun to his head with unwavering aim. Her expression hardens when Tess steps out from the elevator as well. Now a gun is aimed at her as well. "Hello, Tess. Why am I not surprised?"

"Nice to see you too, Marlene. Now let us through."

"I'm afraid I can't do that."

"Well I'm afraid I can't let you shoot my partner or that little girl."

Even in their dire situation, hearing Tess's words is like a breath of fresh air. How many times has she said something similar in the past? It's a wonderful reminder that this is no dream.

In a last effort, Marlene throws in: "It's what she'd want. And you know it." She lowers her gun - a passive gesture that unfortunately is not going to get her too far. "Look, you can still do the right thing here."

The heavy weight of Ellie in his arms reinforces the decision he made so long ago to protect her. This girl, who he watched become a hardened fighter, who he trusted to have his back, who he ultimately let heal even a tiny part of him…she was worth everything to him.

A parent will always do everything they can to save their child, and he will not lose another one.

He gives that little nod to Tess – the one she can read even if it's just the slightest tilt of his head. She fires without question, knocking Marlene to the floor and giving Joel the opportunity to safely place Ellie in a nearby car. He tucks her in there with a tenderness that Tess burns into her memory…maybe love doesn't make you weaker. It could very well be the most damning but also empowering force on this god forsaken planet.

Joel returns to Tess's side, gun drawn steady. Marlene begs for her life but it does nothing. "No," he sets his jaw, decision made. "You'll just come after her."

Tess is already moving toward the car when the gunshot echoes throughout the garage. He follows suit, hopping into the driver's seat and starting the engine. It's done.

They drive in silence for a long time. It's ironic: After all the time wishing he could just speak to her since he last saw her on the Capital Building floor, Joel can't think of a word to say. Leave it to Tess to break the stillness.

"Y'know, I stayed with the Fireflies for so long because I just knew you'd be stubborn enough to find them." There's a lazy half-smile on her face as she stares into the distance. "You're never one to disappoint, Tex." She doesn't talk about the mental war she had to fight to keep that mental outlook. Every move the Fireflies made meant less of a chance of him and Ellie finding them. It would have been a cruel, but not unexpected turn, if she lived only to never see him again.

When Joel doesn't reply, something in her chest hurts. "Damn it, Joel. Say something to me. I'm not going to take a fucking bite out of you, I swear."

Cautiously, his hand finds hers. His thumb ghosts over her knuckles in a way that shows her how hesitant he is to touch her. "You don't know how many times I had nightmares 'bout that."

"Well I'm not going to." Her eyes stare off in the distance, reliving the hell of her recovery in her mind's eye. "God, I can't tell you how much it hurt. Every day it was a different injection, another round of bleedin' me, or another surgery to take infected tissue out of me until they actually deemed me stable. '_Cured_.'" She turns her gaze to him again, vulnerable for a second. "And all that suffering wasn't worth crap if you're going to treat me like one of those things."

Joel takes a deep breath. "I know…Tess."

Their fingers intertwine securely, his strong ones encompassing her alarmingly skinny ones with ease. She feels incredibly breakable. It wasn't evident in the darkness of the hospital, but her jawline and cheek bones are even sharper, her collar bones more sunken in. Only God knows what she would look like out of her clothes. He'd fix it. He'd have to. When they get to Tommy's he'll make sure that she's fed and hydrated as much as they can spare. It's a silent promise, but he's sure she can feel it by the way he massages her thinned out wrist as he pays attention to the road.

At last the air in the car is peaceful. They're battered, but not broken. If Joel believed in miracles he would be sure they had experienced one.

Then there's rustling in the back. Elle's eyes gaze at Joel in the rear-view mirror, a hazy but beautiful shock of green.

"…What am I wearing?" Her gaze drifts to Tess and that wakes her up real good. "Oh man, now I _know_ I'm dead!" She tries to scramble up but everything's woozy.

"Easy back there," Tess turns to face her, her voice uncharacteristically soft. "The drugs are still working out of your system. You're not dead though, I promise."

"What about the Fireflies…?"

That question weighs a million pounds.

Before Tess can say a word Joel interjects, telling Ellie that there had been others like her. That it hadn't done a damn thing, but they _had _developed other methods of curing the infection and they seemed to be working out. That's how Tess is beside them, and that is why she is in the back of the car.

Ellie fingers the gown she had been put in. They left in an awful hurry for her not being needed…but Joel, she can always count on Joel. Plus, Tess is alive, perfect proof of his words. Maybe the anesthesia is just fucking with her head still and that's why she doesn't understand.

For her own sanity, she pushes her doubts aside. There's no other choice.


	4. Chapter 3

Hey guys! This chapter is where the M filter finally starts coming in! Nothing heavy, but mature content, so do beware! Other than that, enjoy! :D

They take refuge in an old abandoned apartment that night. It's pretty nice as far as these old buildings go. Once Tess got past the smell of old dust, it actually reminded her a bit of their old brownstone in Boston. Was that a good thing or not?

They quickly find clothes that fit Ellie well enough, mostly in silence. Tension brews between her and Joel the whole while. They haven't had _that _moment yet, and Tess isn't sure if she'll ever be ready to. So many feelings are rushing at her, but she isn't used to letting herself acknowledge them, let alone show them. She thinks about the way Joel cradled Ellie in his arms as they ran toward the elevator. It was that selfish love of a father for his child and it was undeniably beautiful. How much of that compassion had been lost in the wasteland of the apocalypse? It was a remarkable thing to see.

…But there was no way she could ever let herself become vulnerable like that. None of them would have been standing here if Joel hadn't detached from her in the Capital Building. Worse, if she had encouraged him to stay it would have put his life at risk. Maybe he would have been shot too. Watching him walk away had been the most difficult thing in the world, but it had been for the better good.

Ellie can tell they need space. Regardless of her sheltered life, she knows they need _that_ kind of time together. It won't be a big deal, she'll take one for the team and shack up on the couch for the night. They'd come across a few comics and books, so she could just read them and pass out.

"You sure you're a'right, baby girl?" Joel's obviously worried, but Ellie just meets him with that knowing smile. The girl grew up way too fast.

"I'll be fine, Joel." She cracks a dusty book open to prove her point. "Just me and James Patterson here."

Tess is leaning against the doorframe to the bedroom, looking all sorts of anxious. Without a word, Joel leads her into the dark room and shuts the door behind him. He carefully places the lantern he picked up in another room on one of the old decrepit nightstands and lights it. It flickers to life, strangely warm in the dreary space.

"Look for the light," They both murmur the phrase at the same time. It's surprising, but exactly the thing they need to prove their bond still holds tight.

_You are that light_.

"Tess." Joel finally utters her name like a prayer. In an instant he's crossed the room to her. "God damn, Tess…"

It's a frantic kiss. He can't hold her close enough, grip her hair enough, meld their bodies together perfectly enough. Tess can hardly breathe. It's not like her to stay silent, but she can't find the right words. The only thing she can do is kiss him back and surrender her mouth to his. His tongue explores her frantically, and it pleases him so greatly when he finds she tastes exactly the same that he moans. No, full out growls against her.

Then there's a frantic removing of clothing that actually surprises both of them. Tess winds up on her back, Joel covering her, possessive and hard beyond belief. Usually it's a battle to get her into this position, but tonight it comes instinctually.

Tess is so lost in emotion that she's startled when he enters her. Her teeth sink into his shoulder to muffle the moan she lets out. All the times before had been absolutely angry, frustrated fucking. Up against the wall, the counter, the kitchen table, the windowsill...just another kind of band aid to keep them together enough to move forward. On the rare occasion it would be slower, close to making love, but they were so focused on keeping emotions in check that it never reached that point. It wasn't _allowed_ to reach that point. But this was different. The past day had ripped away whatever filters they had, making it increasingly hard to squash the things they were trying so hard not to feel.

Joel moves his hips slowly at first, afraid to breathe. The way Tess's eyes soften at him when he tucks that dark, soft hair behind her ear almost hurts. How long had she waited for him to come back? He cups her face with one hand, bracing his body with the other, and kisses her. It's softer this time. A promise to never let anything hurt her again.

"Okay, Texas…" There's that smirk. Oh, he missed that look. He flexes his hips into hers, harder this time. The move rewards him with a sharp gasp that presses him forward. Soon they have a steady, deep rhythm that has Tess clutching the weathered sheets beneath her. Her little cries of _fuck_, and _yes_, and _please, Joel_, drive him harder into her. She's never been so hot and wet, her thin body clutching around him in an impossibly tight grip.

They rock on the bed for what seems forever, taking care to memorize each other all over again. Tess has her face buried in the curve of his neck, doing her best to hold back, to her horror, the tears pricking the corners of her eyes. The more she tries to detach, make it like it was way back in Boston, deny that they're making love (something she's never done that before in her entire life), the more she feels and can't control it. His lips press to the scar marring her neck and shoulder. The gesture of support and acceptance makes the skin there tingle in an almost painful way. For the first time since the outbreak she feels raw and vulnerable.

Joel knows Tess almost more than she knows herself. He knows not to mention the fact that he can feel the little wet droplets on his shoulder. All he can do is hike her legs over his shoulders so he can be deeper inside her, so they can feel each other as close as possible. Fingers intertwine along the course of it; Names are breathed, murmured like something holy.

Tess spills seconds later and Joel follows almost immediately, releasing into her without a second thought. Moments tick by as they catch their breath, unable to look away from each other.

_I need this_. Tess still can't come to terms with it but it's there. She remembers one of the last things she said to him and it quirks her lips into a slightly playful expression. "So, Tex…about that laying low thing…"

Joel can't help the smallest of smiles from crossing his lips. "Offer still stands, ma'am." His accent works its magic on her as always.

"Good." She lets him pull her against his chest. A yawn escapes her and sleep takes her soon after.

Joel clutches her as tight as possible. If this is all a cruel illusion, he wants to burn the feel of her into his memory so he can at least remember it when he comes out of it. Her scent fills his nose as he buries his face in her hair. It's citrusy, like the height of summer.

There's nothing in the world that can beat the refreshing, nightmare-free sleep he gets that night. That is, except for when he reaches for Tess's body in his half-awake state…and his arms actually close around her naked body.


	5. Chapter 4

Short chapter, but I felt bad for not updating this the past few days and I start a long day of classes tomorrow so I wanted to get SOMETHING up!

Rivers are real good at making Tess feel powerless.

Joel seems to want to take a few moments to discuss things with Ellie before they return to Tommy and Maria's hydroelectric dam, so Tess allows herself to revisit her memories of playing in the woods back home with her brothers. There was a big river that snaked through those woods, not quite as big as this one, but big enough.

She touches the gnarled scar marring her shoulder as she travels memory lane. Things were so simple then, back when her biggest problem was her brothers ganging up on her, or them scaring away the few guys who were attracted to her brashness and wanted to ask her out.

The rough skin tingles under her fingers, yanking her out of her reverie. It's not like her to be sentimental. Yeah she misses them, but it's better to stop dwelling on it.

"Swear to me."

Tess picks up the words and turns her attention toward the pair standing behind her. Joel's looking real serious. By the way his jaw is set and the way he takes in his breath, Tess knows he's about to lie about _something_ to Ellie. She's known him long enough to know his poker face.

"I swear."

There's a short pause and then Ellie's simple, "Okay."

Tess isn't sure what to make of the way Ellie nods, but she doesn't dwell on it. Her thoughts turn to where they're going. It's been forever since she's seen Tommy…and he never really liked her too much. In his eyes, their black market trafficking only added to the fire that was eating the last of Joel's humanity. Maybe he was right.

"You ready, Tess?" Joel's presence makes it evident that he's done with whatever discussion he and Ellie were having.

"As ready as I'll ever be," she returns, with playful sarcasm. "You know how much Tommy _loves_ me."

Joel actually laughs at this. A deep laugh in his chest, one that Tess likes. "Oh that he does."

"Holy _shit_." Tommy's hugging Joel before the older brother can get a word in. "Man, look at you, it hasn't even been a year and you look like you aged ten!"

Joel shifts his backpack a little, just becoming aware of its weight. "Yeah, well, a lot's happened, little brother. Y'mind if we come in an' rest up?"

"Of course, you know I said there's always a home for you-" In the excitement he didn't even notice Tess. He does now. "My God…Tess…Joel told me that you got bit."

"I did." She pulls the collar of her shirt down, exposing the rough flesh without shame. She adds with a little acid in her tone: "Your friends, the Fireflies, fixed me up real good."

"Yeah," Ellie pipes in before Tommy gets the chance to. "Turns out they didn't need me to cure people after all."

Joel and Tess exchange a look but say nothing.

"After all that? Really?"

Joel interjects, "Tommy, why don't we come in and get settled. Then we can talk all you want. We've been traveling since sun up-"

"And I'm starving!" Ellie adds, cracking a smile on Tommy's lips.

"Sure thing. I'll go get Maria. I know she'll be real happy to see you." He gives Tess one more bewildered look, half expecting her to evaporate like a ghost, before motioning them to come inside.


	6. Chapter 5

AN:It's been a while since I updated this, and I am sorry! I guess I see all of the _Home_ and _Months_ stuff as happening in the same AU and forgot this needed to be finished up. I think it'll just be one or two more chapters after this 3

As they gather together around a large oak table to eat, Joel finds himself falling back into the routine of letting Tess do the talking. While Ellie spends her time stuffing her face full of deer meat, Tommy and Maria listen intently to their story. Joel finds that when they're _not_ on the job, it's actually fun to watch Tess talk. She's so animated – extremely preferable to the images of her bleeding out on the floor of the capital building. He still has nightmares over it, though their occurrence has lessened since the two returned to sharing a bed.

Maria whistles in appreciation when Tess pulls down the corner of her shirt to show the angry scar curling over her skin. "Holy cow, that's quite a mark you've got there."

"Yeah, well, better scarred than dead, I suppose." Tess sits back in her chair again and takes a drink from the cup of instant coffee in front of her.

Tommy's eyes drift to Ellie and she looks up from her meal for the first time since it was placed in front of her. "I just can't believe after all that they didn't need her."

"I guess they had enough lab rats already." Tess interjects a little bitterly, massaging the scar absentmindedly. She finds Joel's hand resting comfortingly on her thigh and covers it with her own, lacing her fingers between his. An uncomfortable quiet settles between the five of them. It's obvious that Tess is done sharing, and Ellie is done eating for now.

Eager to fill the space, Tommy interjects with, "Y'know, tonight's movie night. A lot of kids Ellie's age'll be there, maybe she'd like to go?"

Ellie's eyes have never grown so big so fast. "A real movie?! Are you serious!?"

Joel gives a small smile and nod to his brother. "I reckon she'd really like that."

"Hell yeah, I would!" she wipes her face hurriedly with a napkin and leaps to her feet. "I can't wait! When can we go!?" Her excitement is so great that even Tess looks amused.

"We can go now if you want. They should just be settin' things up. As long as that's a'right with you, Joel."

"'Course it's ok." Joel's eyes shift from Tommy to the woman sitting beside him. The woman he _needs_ some official alone time with. "Go an' have fun, kiddo." He ruffles the girl's hair affectionately.

"_Awesome!_"

She's gone in a blink of an eye, Tommy chasing after her, yelling: "Hey, wait up! You don't even know where you're going!"

Joel's eyes meet Tess's and the heat is almost palpable. They haven't spent a night together by themselves since they were still shacked up in Boston. Sure, they were able to steal a second or two to themselves since they left the hospital, touching as much skin as possible when Ellie didn't need to be in their direct line of sight, and there _were_ the few nights where they _did_ have sex, but it was the kind of sex where you bite your tongue, the blanket, or even your partner's shoulder to keep yourself quiet…more or less.

Maria clears her throat, startling both of them from undressing each other with their eyes. "You've got a good brother, Joel. We kept a spot open for you because he was convinced that you'd come back here." There's a crackle on her walkie talkie. "I'm sorry, repeat that?" She turns from them for a second to answer it. "No, I can't, I have something I'm taking care of. Tommy's headed your way anyway, let him know when he gets there." Her eyes are apologetic when she turns back to them. "I'm sorry for that. Like I was saying, Tommy's been keeping a place for you, let me take you there."


End file.
